Along with the new Aurora Mill came a new townsite. With the influx of miners the number of saloons and bawdy houses in Aurora grew substantially almost over night.
Jesse Knight, one of Charles King’s associates, had objections to the number of immoral activities and created his own town which he called Mangum. This town actually grew up right next to the mill which was a few miles distant from Aurora proper. Knight built the little mining camp town of Mangus, north and over the hill from Aurora near the company’s mine and mill, declaring that no saloons would be allowed. When several of the Company’s mines were surveyed in 1914, including the Mangus mine, Mineral Survey plat No. 4219 showed the locations of several of the buildings the company had erected in its little village. In addition to the Superintendent’s house, there were three bunk houses, a boarding house, and a hospital building, all located northeast of the state of the art Mangus mill, close to the “Upper Road” that led to Aurora. South of the mill site were a carpenter shop, machine shop, blacksmith shop, assay office, store house and a small office building. Not a saloon in sight! By 1920, only five persons were enumerated as living at Aurora and but one man, caretaker of the mill at Wingfield (formerly Mangus), was also counted. * The New Aurora Mill an article in the“ Mining and Scientific Press” on July 11, 1914. * “Nevada’s Metal and Mineral Production (1859-1940, inclusive)” by Couch and Carpenter * United States Department of Agriculture article entitled Aurora’s Red Light District by Silver The photographs in order from top to bottom are from (1) the Aurora Consolidated Mill at Magnus, (2) the town of Magnus, and (3) the town of Magnus taken from the hill above the Aurora Consolidated Mill. |
Below are the reverses of the three photographs. This was a rare find indeed!